Flying Blind
by iwantmyburd
Summary: I should have just stayed in bed. It's bad enough that I got whisked away from my home to a completely different world while in my pajamas. Now I have to stumble through the plot of a story I haven't even heard yet. All I can do is try to survive, and pray I don't screw things up too badly.
1. Probably Not Narnia

Have you ever woken up in the middle of the night for no apparent reason? One minute you're just lying there with your eyes closed, somewhere between waking and sleeping, and then bam! you're wide awake again with no idea why? You probably just shrugged it off and went back to sleep, right? Good. Thinking too much about what might have caused it is just asking for trouble. That's how this story starts.

* * *

My eyes snapped open to the sight of the ceiling and fan of my darkened bedroom.

_What was that?_

I blinked a few times and propped myself up to check the alarm clock on the shelf of my headboard. 3:19? Way too early for my alarm to go off, or any others in the house. I looked over the edge of my bed at where my younger brother was sleeping. He was breathing deeply and evenly and lying still at the moment, but maybe he had stirred and woken me up. He had talked in his sleep plenty of times before, after all.

It was also possible that Radagast had moved around in his cage beneath my bed. Granted, in this weather, the bearded dragon should have been more or less hibernating. Even then, though, he would wake up sometimes to eat or take a crap before becoming inactive again.

On that note, maybe I'd simply heard someone getting up to go to the bathroom. Maybe one of the dogs had barked. The heat might have kicked on. It could have been a car driving by, or a train horn sounding in the distance. Any _number_ of mundane things could have woken me.

However, a sound outside my bedroom door, one that I couldn't place yet filled me with dread, convinced me it was anything but mundane. In that moment, I just _knew_ it had to be robbers or kidnappers or some such moving around in the house.

Now, I know what you're thinking: if such people _had_ been in my house, getting out of bed to confront them without a firearm handy would have been a bad, bad idea. Why not call the police on the phone sitting inches from my head? Well, in my defense, first of all, when I say I _knew_ there were intruders, it was really more of a gut-feeling not rooted in any actual evidence. I didn't want to actually _do_ anything until I knew for sure what was happening. Second... well, it was three in the morning, and I wasn't doing my best thinking at the time.

Heart pounding, I pushed the covers off and clambered down from my bed as quietly as I could. I grabbed and pulled on my jacket; home would always get surprisingly cold in the winter. Since the guns were kept in my parents' closet, I'd just have to make do with what was in mine. I slid the door open and felt around in the dark. One hand closed around the nylon sheath of a hunting knife, and the other grasped the pole of a naginata.

... What? I'm a geek. Bladed weapons are cool. Moving on.

Thus armed, I crept over to the door leading to the rest of the house. All the while, the strange sound coming through it persisted. I took a deep breath to steady my nerves and placed my knife hand on the door handle.

_... God, please let it be nothing..._

With that short prayer, I made the single biggest mistake of my life and threw the door open, brandishing my naginata at whatever was waiting for me.

The sound stopped, but the hallway was supposed to be more brightly lit than it was. Why wasn't the light on the wall outlet working? Since when did we have this many plants in the house? Where had the walls and the other doorways gone?

My trepidation was quickly forgotten, confusion growing in its place. Slowly, my gaze rolled upward. Tree branches, clouds, starlight.

I was outside? But how? I had just walked out of my-

I whirled around and felt my stomach drop down into my ankles. The room I had just been in was gone. No doorway, no beds, no lizard cage, no carpeted floor, no walls or ceiling. Just trees, bushes, dirt, and open air under a dark, cloudy sky. All around, insects were chirping, and every now and then some creature of the night cried out.

"What in the..." The words died in my throat. My eyes darted every which way, and my weapons dropped to the ground. All there was to see was more forest; the bedroom I had just been inside and the house it belonged to were nowhere to be found.

I don't know how long I stood there, frantically looking around, trying and failing to make some sense of what had just happened. Eventually, though, my sleep-deprived brain kicked into gear and started churning out ideas.

At first, I thought I'd been right about there being intruders in the house. That would mean I'd been knocked out, kidnapped, and dumped out in the middle of nowhere. It also occurred to me that I could have died and gone to heaven, but the presence of my weapons ruled out both of those possibilities. A quick slap to the face convinced me for the moment that I wasn't dreaming or hallucinating. That pain was definitely real. Strike three for the realm of "possible" ideas. Did that make it a good time to consider more outlandish possibilities?

Three AM me certainly thought so.

_Did I just... teleport? Through my door?... I went through a regular old door, and it brought me somewhere it clearly wasn't supposed to... Narnia, maybe?_ I looked back at what I thought was the way I had come._ But I thought the way back was supposed to stay open when that happened. And isn't there an age limit or something for that? I'd have thought I was past that by now. Hm... Either I got sent somewhere, or my house did. And my street, and my neighborhood, and the city, and the desert it's sitting in... Yeah, it was probably just me. But then... where did I get sent TO? How do I get back?... CAN I get back?_

It dawned on me as I went on about this that, whatever had happened, there was really only one thing I could do about it that night.

I cupped my hands around my mouth. "HELLO! IS ANYONE OUT THERE?!"

My hands lowered as I listened. The only response was the continued chirping of crickets. So I turned and tried again.

"HELLOOOOOO! ANYONE?!"

No one.

This time, I took my first two fingers on each hand, put them to my mouth, and gave the loudest, longest whistle I could. That got some angry chatter out of some manner of wildlife nearby. It made any thought of trying again seem... _inadvisable__._

With that, there really wasn't anything else I could think to do that night. It was dark, and I didn't have a clue where I was or how I'd gotten there. The best I could do for the moment would be to sleep until morning and try to get my bearings from there. Maybe I would even wake up back in my bed, I thought. After all, I still couldn't say for sure what had happened. Maybe it would just undo itself as I slept, and I would be able to write this all off as a strange, vivid dream in the morning - or, ideally, forget it had happened altogether.

Holding onto this line of reasoning, I laid down where I was, wrapped my jacket tighter around myself, and closed my eyes. At least it didn't appear to be winter here.

* * *

I was still in that forest when I woke up. The bird singing nearby was only the second giveaway; the first was the feel of mounds and rocks and tree roots digging into my back and skull through my jacket.

A long, loud, tired groan escaped me as I sat up, blinking at my surroundings. "Crud." So much for pretending this had never happened.

It was daylight out, there was no question of that, but the only way to tell was by the narrow shafts of light filtering down in patches and flecks through the treetops above. And the trees themselves, my goodness, they were enormous! Giant, moss-covered wooden pillars that were absolutely laden with broad green leaves. Nothing like the green sticks or skinny palms I was used to. No, I'd only seen trees like these when traveling, far away from my home.

_... I guess this time qualifies for that._

"Okay," I muttered to myself, drawing my legs in to sit cross-legged in the dirt. "So I opened my door and suddenly found myself in some big, who-knows-where forest… in my pajamas, plus a jacket." I looked down at my clothes in disgust: long white socks on my feet, black sweatpants on my legs, a green T-shirt with the words 'Lucky Shirt' and a clover on my torso, and a gray zip-up cotton hoodie.

"Nothing else with me, except..." I cast about until I found where I'd dropped my weapons. "... a naginata and a knife- hm?"

I picked up my sheathed knife and found an extra pouch clinging to it, dangling by a Velcro flap. I took it off, opened it up, and gave a sigh.

"... Plus my ocarina. Brilliant."

Yes, yes, I'm a geek. We've been over this.

A lightbulb seemed to light up in my mind. It was a silly, far-fetched idea, but I was already dealing with what was looking more and more like some kind of teleportation. It would have been sillier _not_ to try. I put the ocarina to my lips and started to play.

_... Maybe I got some notes wrong._

_... No, no, I hesitated between notes there._

_... All in one breath, maybe?_

Several tries later, I put my ocarina away in defeat. There would be no _Song of Time_-ing my way out of this, it seemed.

There was a fluttering sound, and I looked up to see a small bird landing on a branch directly overhead. It peered down at me, turning its head from side to side to look at me through each eye.

"... I don't suppose you can tell me where I am?" I asked idly.

The bird hung around for a moment longer before jumping off the branch and flying away, twittering as it went.

"Thought not." So at this point, I was about 95% sure this wasn't Narnia. That _really_ narrowed it down. With a sigh, I resumed taking stock of my situation.

Setting the ocarina aside, I picked up my knife, pulled it from its sheath, and looked it over. Its blade was curved and single-edged, with three serrations on its back edge near the hilt. The handle was wooden, dyed red and black, with a metal pommel and guard sporting simple vine patterns. It was a pretty piece, sure, and it was definitely sharp enough to be functional, but until now I hadn't ever had a reason to actually use it. With any luck, I wouldn't have to now, either… though if luck had been on my side, I wouldn't have been there to start with.

That done, I sheathed the knife and put it down to examine my naginata. This weapon was far more modern in design: a composite black shaft with sets of ridges strategically placed for gripping, and a silicone sheath strapped to the blade. I undid the metal fastener and took the sheath off for a moment to check the blade. It was painted black, except for the sharp, never-before-used cutting edge. It wasn't especially big for a polearm from what I could tell, but it was a far better bet than the knife for self-defense, if it came to that.

On that note… what was I supposed to do now? I was still lost in some unfamiliar forest, with only my sleeping clothes, a blade on a stick, a plus size pocket knife, and a musical instrument. There was no way to tell how long I would be stuck out there. I had no food or water, or even a way to store water.

… Well, thinking of it like that made it easy. First and foremost, I needed to find a water source. The question, then, was how. I'd never been the outdoors-y type back home, and at that moment I was starting to regret it.

_No time for that_, I chided myself._ If I don't know any tricks or tips to find water, I'll… just need to think my way through it. Let's see… There are plenty of green plants around, but the ground is kind of dry, so there probably isn't any water right around here. In that case, they must get plenty of rain. That could work, but… I have no way to collect rainwater. What I could really use is a river or stream… Oh, that might be it!_

I closed my eyes and put all my focus on my hearing, listening for the sound of water. There was plenty of birdsong, the droning of insects, the sighing of wind on the leaves…

No, it didn't sound like there was any nearby. That pretty much left me with one option: search the old-fashioned way.

I rose to my feet, pocketed my knife and my ocarina, and picked up my naginata. Hopefully I wouldn't need to use the sharp end of it, but for now it would make a great walking stick.

I chose a direction and took three steps before I stopped again. Uncertainty tugged at me, pulling me back. What if someone came here looking for me?

Well, there was only one thing for it. I went to the nearest tree, pulled out my knife, and started carving large letters into the trunk:

MATT WAS HERE

I added an arrow pointing in the direction I was planning to walk, and then I was off again, my doubts eased. It was a long shot, but there was no sense not taking it at this point.

I continued on my way, stopping to mark a tree with an M and an arrow once every few minutes, or whenever I had to change directions to get around some obstacle. It was surprisingly nice, once I got going. The air was fresh and cool, the trees provided plenty of shade, and the sights and sounds of the forest were downright serene. This was going to be a pleasant walk - probably not a long one at that. If it rained here as much as the greenery indicated, the rain water had to collect somewhere. Most likely, that somewhere would be a river. I just needed to keep walking and listening until I heard one. Then I could get a drink, maybe take a dip in the water, and then see about finding something to eat. About an hour, tops. It wouldn't be long now…

* * *

That was a lie. It took closer to half a day to find water. In that time, the air beneath the trees quickly turned warm and muggy, leaving me slick with sweat. My shirt and jacket came off soon after my socks. The latter didn't offer much protection for my feet anyway, and the forest floor was starting to wear through them. And my feet, for that matter. Every exposed root, every upraised pebble was a cut or blister just waiting to happen. The vegetation in places was so dense that it tugged and ripped and tore through my clothes and skin mercilessly.

On the subject of merciless: the bugs. There was no end to them. There was always at least one swarm following me at a time, going for every inch of exposed skin to drink sweat off - or to take a bite out of me. The rest of it was… well, not good, but bearable, but the freaking _bugs_ were worse than all the rest _combined._

If all this sounds unpleasant for a nature hike, imagine doing it _without any food or freaking **water**_.

Erm… sorry about that. The point is I was a hot, tired, grouchy mess by the time I finally heard what I was listening for: the telltale rumble of a nearby river. It was mid afternoon by then, and another half hour after that by the time I reached the river. I finally got my drink of water an hour after that, because following the sound of rushing water had led me to the top of a freaking waterfall.

Not that it was a _terrible_ detour. I still remember the moment I finally emerged from the trees into the clear air to find myself at the riverbank, when my eyes followed the water over the edge to the valley beyond. The view was _breathtaking_: green forest laid out before me as far as I could see; the river winding its way through until it disappeared around a bend; its water reflecting the blue, cloud-filled sky above.

I wish I'd had a camera with me.

Anyway, like I said, it took another hour or so to find a way down from the top of the waterfall. I was parched, but I wasn't thirsty enough to try drinking from rapids leading to a fifty foot drop. The water at its base looked to be flowing much more gently. Getting down there involved backtracking into the forest, but it was worth it in the end.

As I'd suspected, the water did indeed move more slowly after it had taken the plunge. Even better, once I was down there, I spotted bunches of red in the bushes lining the bank. _Raspberries_. Far from my favorite, but I had no other readily available food, and I could tell right off the bat that they were safe to eat. In that moment, they looked like the most delicious thing in the world. First, though, I had an overdue appointment with the river.

I laid out my shirt, jacket, and socks on the bushes, set my equipment down next to them, rolled up my pant legs, and carefully waded into the water. Slick rocks beneath the surface made for precarious footing, but the cold water was so incredibly_ soothing_ to my stinging, aching, tired feet.

I quickly returned to shore, took off my pants, and went back into the water in my underwear. The shocking chill of the river was _bliss_. Within minutes, my scrapes and scratches and bug bites were numbed, the dirt that had been clinging to me was washed away, the bugs still following me were gone, and I'd drank water to my heart's content.

I couldn't stay there forever, I knew. But I could make the most of it for now. Though my prayers that night included plenty of questions and requests, I had plenty to be thankful for, too.

* * *

The days that followed were an odd sort of blur that somehow seemed to rush past and drag on at the same time. Each day consisted of foraging for berries, taking a dip in the river, and finding ways to occupy myself. With my limited resources, that largely consisted of doing a bit of exercise, playing tunes on my ocarina, and napping. Nights were a little more unnerving.

The first time the sun went down on me in that little river valley, I caught the sound of howling on the breeze. Not one minute later, I found a tree nearby that looked and felt like an acceptable shape to sleep in, up off the ground. It ended up being only a little worse than trying to sleep on the ground in practice, but the howling tended to persist for a good long while once it started. Unless I was already fast asleep by then, I ended up lying awake through it all until it stopped. In hindsight, maybe that's why I slept so much during the day as well.

There were a couple of changes to break up the monotony, though. The day after I arrived there, the cloud cover from the day before had thickened and turned gray. Having only one set of clothes and very much wanting to have it dry at nightfall, I scrambled to figure out some kind of shelter for myself. I had to sacrifice my shirt to do it, but I managed to take some relatively small, leaf-covered branches and tie them together into a crude canopy. It worked out pretty decently, actually. By the time the rain started in the late morning, my little roof was situated over the spot I'd slept in, and my clothes only got a few drops of water on them. Of course, this left me having to forage naked in the rain. I do not recommend it.

Thankfully, the storm blew over by the late afternoon. When the sun went down, I was fully clothed and mostly dry, and the sky was clear. That's when I looked up and saw it: the night sky as I'd never seen it before. The trees had obscured my view that first night in the forest, and the gathering clouds the night before had completely blocked it. Now, though? The night sky was shining with millions, _billions_ of lights. I could even see some of the galaxy this world was a part of. Having spent most of my life in a city with plentiful pollution and light pollution, it was honestly a bit overwhelming. I just stood there for hours, staring; if I shed a few tears, I didn't notice. I might not have gone to bed that night at all if not for the howling that started drawing nearer.

By the following morning, my day of getting soaked in the rain had taken its toll, and I woke up with a sore throat, runny nose, and a splitting headache. I devoted more time to resting that day, hoping to sleep it off, not doing anything I didn't need to. However, I still needed to forage that day, and the bushes closest to my tree had all been depleted of berries, so I had to take a bit of a walk to find any. I would need to find something else to eat, I realized, or be ready to move on from there.

The next day, after sleeping off the worst of my cold, I tried my hand at spearfishing. It did… not go well. Sneaking up on the fish proved easier than I'd expected, but it really helps if the spear you're using has a straight blade and barbs to prevent a speared fish from escaping. Neither of these things described my naginata. Three times I nearly managed to skewer a meal, and three fruitless mad dashes were made to grab a bisected fish as it drifted downstream. After that, I called it quits and resumed berry hunting. Only then did it occur to me that if I couldn't build a fire, catching a fish would do me little good anyway.

I really wished I had gone camping more back home.

Just as I was finishing for that day, though, I spotted something: a plume of gray wisps of cloud rising above the trees.

No, not clouds, I realized. Smoke. Smoke meant fire. Fire could only mean people.

The decision to seek them out was an easy one. I'd lasted a few days on my own in this wilderness, sure, but I had a feeling I wasn't going to make it much longer than that without help. Whoever it was, surely they wouldn't turn away someone who was clearly lost and alone out here, would they? I'd certainly had no sight nor sound of anybody else in the last four days. Besides, they definitely had a fire, and there was a good chance they had hot food, too - ideally something that could get the taste of raspberry out of my mouth. Maybe they had brought hot dogs or something with them - or maybe, if they were roughing it, they'd caught fish or killed some game and cooked it over their fire. The thought made my mouth water.

I had to hurry. The sun was starting to go down, and I wanted to find the mystery campers before the wolves found me. I booked it back to my camp to gather up my things and headed out, resuming my practice of marking trees along my path. They couldn't be too far away. An hour, tops, and I would reach the source of the smoke. It wouldn't be long now.

* * *

**AUTHOR NOTES (henceforth known as A/N):**

**So yeah, that's chapter 1! At time of initial posting, Three Houses is three days away from official release, and since I don't want to have to go back and make changes as I find stuff out, this is how we're starting! It's definitely possible that I still messed up somehow, and I'll have to adjust this chapter accordingly. A bridge to cross when we get to it. Going forward, the chapter updates will likely be a bit sparse until I've managed to play at least one route through. I can shoot for monthly updates, but that's by no means a promise. Above all, I want this to be a good story.**

**On that note, let me know what you think! Thoughts, suggestions, likes, dislikes, I'll take whatever you wanna give. That's all I've got for now - hope to see you around next time!**

**EDIT: Thanks to Spiderc for being my beta reader this chapter!**


	2. Rude Awakeni- wait, wrong game

One slip-up. One lapse in judgement. One moment of caving in to impulse. It might not look like a big deal at first. In the end, it still might not be. You might even get away with one, or even two. But big or small, the consequences of a moment like that can still follow you a long way, for a long time. Just hope it's more like a fly buzzing in your ear, and less like a bear snapping at your heels.

* * *

"An hour, tops." Ha. Try between two and three hours. You might think I'd have learned from my initial search for water a few days before. Suffice it to say I generally suck at estimating travel times.

On the bright side, if the source of the smoke _had_ been an hour's walk away from my camp, I would've made it just before the daylight faded. For all the good it did me. I was still lost in a forest at night, over a mile away from my camp, with wolves howling somewhere in the area. It sounded like they were further away than on previous nights, but the call still sent uncomfortable shivers down my spine. I hadn't actually _seen_ any wolves since stumbling into this place, but that didn't stop my heart from hammering in my ears whenever the howling peaked.

Part of me wanted to stop or turn back. Get up off the ground and wait out the hunt. But if I did that, there was a chance the campers I'd spotted- well, I'd spotted smoke from their fire anyway, you get the idea. The point is, there was a chance they would up and disappear before I even got up the next morning. The thought of missing them by _that much…_ I steeled myself and kept going in spite of the howling. I didn't want to be alone out here anymore, I realized.

Let alone the fact that the longer I had to fend for myself like this, the more likely I was to die anyway. It wouldn't make much difference if I got eaten by wolves that night or starved a month later.

So I forged ahead, as fast as I could in the gathering dark. Which was actually pretty slowly. I still had to be careful where I stepped, or else risk tearing my feet open on some stick or rock. Now, though, I could barely even see my own feet, let alone the ground I was walking on. For that matter, I couldn't see the smoke anymore, either. Still, I had to keep moving. Stopping now was the worst thing I could do. I would just have to follow the river and hope the camp was within sight of it. Trying to walk a straight line in this gloom would have just been asking to get hopelessly lost. More so than walking alone in the dark with no light, anyway.

So there I was, practically hobbling along the river on my polearm with only the moon and stars to light my way, probably looking like some lost hobo. My feet were bare, my sweatpants and jacket were dirty and torn, and the shredded remains of my t-shirt were tied around my neck like a crude bandana. At the time, I really didn't care about the state I was in. But in hindsight, I'm glad _that_ at least wasn't the first impression I gave in this place.

I nearly walked right past it without seeing it, but see it I did.

_Is that-!_ My attention snapped to the side. There was a hitch in my footsteps, my breathing, and even my heartbeat. There, off in the forest, was the orange flicker of a campfire. I'd found it!

My legs wanted nothing more than to sprint the remaining distance to the inviting glow, but my brain had the brakes on. So the two compromised, and I ended up jumping in place a few times, trying to contain myself. Four days on my own out here, and I'd found people! I was saved!

_Well… almost_, I thought as I settled down again. _I don't know these people, they don't know me, and they proooobably won't appreciate some lunatic charging into their camp at night. Just need to be calm… yeah. And it might not be a bad idea to see if I can find anything out about them before they notice me…_

With that in mind, I marked the nearest tree with an M and an arrow, and I made for the camp. I walked on the balls of my feet and held my naginata to the side, parallel to the ground. I could hear my every movement, but since no one addressed or approached me as I crept closer, I could only assume I was quiet enough.

A few steps more and…_ Whoa._

First of all, there wasn't just one campfire. There was the one I had seen from the river, which I was closest to now, plus three more scattered through the trees, each a stone's throw away from the others. Bedrolls with sleeping bodies on them lay haphazardly around all four fires; beside each of them, it seemed, the firelight glinted off shining metal surfaces. Chain mail. Plate armor. Axes. _Swords._

Looking back, I'm even more glad I decided to scout the camp first. It meant I could take all the time I needed to gawk at what I was seeing. Knights. Legit medieval knights. Either that or really convincing Renaissance fair actors. There were even a few horses around, tied to trees spread around the campsite.

I swallowed. …_Maybe I should wait until morning before I try talking to them. I have no idea how they'll-... oh_. I sniffed. _Ohhh, that smells good._

Something savory had been cooking recently, and the aroma was reaching me even from just past the edge of the camp. I could practically taste it, and that set my mouth watering and my stomach gurgling.

I blinked, and when my eyes opened I was halfway to the nearest fire, stepping around sleeping bodies on my way to the source of the smell.

_No. No, no, nonono nope, this isn't a good idea. This is a bad idea. This is, in fact, a VERY bad idea. If they wake up..._

It turns out that logic just isn't all that compelling when your stomach is the one driving. All it ended up doing was helping me make sure I moved as quietly as I possibly could. One of the horses snorted at me, but none of the people in the bedrolls so much as stirred as I passed. So my push for the campfire went uninterrupted. I'd been sleeping in the open air with no source of warmth but myself since my first night here, and the heat of the fire felt _amazing_.

So, there was the fire, which meant there had to be… Aha! Just on the other side of it sat a large, round pot. There was even a neat stack of bowls next to it! Perfect. I knelt over the pot and took one more long whiff, and that was it. I took a bowl off the top of the stack, put a bit of food in it, and sat down where I was. Stew, it seemed: some kind of meat with potatoes in broth. I didn't see any spoons nearby, so I put the bowl directly to my lips and tipped it up.

_… Ohhh, that IS good._

Since I'd already eaten plenty of berries earlier, I only took about half a bowl of stew. Enough to tide me over for now. I didn't even notice any seasoning, except maybe a dash of salt, and it was only warm by this point instead of hot. But having lived on nothing but raspberries for half a week, I felt at the time like I was eating like a king.

_All right,_ I thought contentedly after drinking up the last drops of broth. _That was worth it. Better wash the bowl out before I put it back, and then get out of here until morning. _I climbed to my feet and crept away from the fire. _Wouldn't want to leave any sign for them that I was here. That would… Um, that'd be…_

I shivered and slowed to a stop. It suddenly felt a lot more frigid out than I remembered. Meanwhile, the river I was heading for was even colder.

_It can wait_. I turned right back around and parked myself by the fire again, setting the bowl and my naginata down next to me. _Just a few more minutes,_ I told myself, pulling my jacket tighter and scooting toward the fire. _Just a few more minutes, and then I'll take care of it..._

…

…

"_**Wake up**._"

I jumped and gasped and fell onto my back, eyes blinking and mind reeling. "Huh?! Who?! Wha?!"

A face with a full beard and a tight frown peered down at me. He looked middle-aged, with dark but graying hair and a few wrinkles. Oh, and he was wearing _armor plates over his clothes._

A pit formed in my stomach. I'd been caught.

"So you _were_ asleep. Sitting up and everything. Unbelievable."

_Wait, what? Asleep? Me? I wasn't asleep! I was just sitting by the fire, and… and…_

Actually, now that I was getting my bearings again, the sky behind the dude's head was brighter than it had been a moment before. The sounds of birds singing and people talking and milling about were filling my ears, I noticed. It had been all dark and quiet just a moment before, and now suddenly it was morning?

There really was only one explanation, and it caused my cheeks to warm a bit.

"Uh… yeah, I guess I was," I managed. "This is, uh… awkward."

A new, gruff voice spoke up from nearby, taking Bearded Dude's attention off me: "Hmph. That's one word for it. Care to explain yourself?"

I turned my head to the side, where the voice was coming from. I took one look at the armored figures before me, did a double-take, and sat bolt upright as my brain short-circuited.

_Jeralt?! BYLETH?!_

* * *

_Jeralt folded his arms as he looked down at the young intruder critically._

_Even at a glance, he looked odd. His dark brown hair was cut short, greasy, and sticking up at odd angles all over, while his face and neck had what looked like a few days' growth on them. What clothes he wore were filthy and torn. His trousers in particular were riddled with holes and tears that showed off cuts and scrapes in his skin underneath. The mercenary didn't recognize their make, but it was obvious they weren't at all suited for traveling, much less through this wilderness. All this before even getting to his bare feet._

_Even stranger than all that, however, was his behavior._

_The boy was predictably alarmed and confused at his rude awakening, courtesy of Byron. He then seemed embarrassed, probably because he realized that he'd fallen asleep and gotten himself caught. Understandable. But then, when Jeralt spoke up, and the boy caught sight of the mercenary and his daughter… He suddenly went stiff as a board, and his eyes looked ready to pop out of his head as they darted between the two mercenaries._

_Did this brat recognize them? Jeralt certainly didn't remember meeting him before, and he certainly would've remembered anyone with a lance like his._

Wonder how long it'll take him to realize it's not there,_ Jeralt thought. "Nothing to say for yourself?" he prodded._

_The kid blinked and quickly shook his head. "I'm sorry, what?"_

_Jeralt raised an eyebrow and glanced at Byleth. She looked as impassive as ever, but her eyes were trained on the intruder and her hand was on the hilt of her sword. She was alert, ready to move if he tried anything. _Good, _he thought._

_She noticed Jeralt looking at her and met his gaze. The older mercenary shook his head and returned his attention to the kid. "Let's try this again. Who are you, and what are you doing here?"_

* * *

Jeralt and Byleth.

I was sitting in front of Jeralt and Byleth.

I was staring at two_ Fire Emblem_ characters, in the flesh.

Then, when I got transported from my room…

_No. No, nononono. Crap. **Crap.** Freaking-! _**Fire Emblem_?!_** Three Houses_ hasn't even-! How-? Why-?!_

"Nothing to say for yourself?"

_Wha- ...oh!_ I shook myself out of my stupor and looked up at Jeralt, trying to quash my nerves and my jumbled thoughts. "I'm sorry, what?"

Jeralt cocked an eyebrow and glanced over at Byleth. On one hand, _whoa_, she was a lot more attractive in person. On the other, she hadn't stopped staring at me since I noticed her standing there, with her expression entirely blank and one hand grabbing the freaking SWORD at her hip.

_My gosh, this is… **real**._

"Let's try this again," Jeralt said, focusing on me once more. "Who are you, and what are you doing here?"

I hesitated for just a moment before answering. I was a reader of self-insert stories back home, and a recurring theme they tend to share is that the inserted person _cannot_ let on that they know the story they're in. If the wrong people find out you know more than you should, they might either kill you to keep you quiet… or take you alive so you can tell them what the future has in store. Given that _Three Houses_ wasn't actually _out_ yet when I came here, and I didn't _know_ anything useful, I was as good as dead if the latter happened.

So in that moment's hesitation, I made two decisions. One, I wasn't going to tell anyone about this world being a video game. Two, I was going to be as honest as I could about everything else. I don't like lying, I'm not good at lying, and any lie I gave them would be found out eventually. Besides, I didn't even know enough about Fódlan to feed them a convincing backstory for myself.

"My name is Matthew," I answered. "... But some people call me Matt. I've been lost out here for four days." I tentatively started pushing myself off the ground to stand up. Apparently, that was the wrong thing to do, because my arms were swiftly kicked out from under me and I was in pain and in the dirt again.

"Unless I'm mistaken," Old Man Wake-Up Call asserted sternly, "what the captain meant by that was, 'what are you doing in our camp?'"

I winced as I sat up again. _I mean, I was getting to that…_

"That's all right, Byron," Jeralt said with a wave of his hand. "I'm sure we'll get to it." He looked at me pointedly. "Well?"

"Ah… point taken." This time, I crossed my legs and sat upright instead of trying to stand. "Like I said, I've been lost out here. I've been staying over by the waterfall upstream from here, and I saw the smoke from your fires before sundown last night."

The lead mercenary gave me an odd look. "So you found our camp, waited until dark to slip past the watchmen, and just made yourself at home?"

I blinked. _Wait, what…?_ "I didn't wait- hold up, there were watchmen?"

Jeralt's eyebrows rose. "We always have at least three of us on the night watch at a time. You never saw anyone standing guard?"

"No…" Well, that was weird news...

"I'll have a chat with them all later," the other guy - Byron, apparently - stated.

Jeralt sighed through his nostrils and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Please do. Preferably as soon as we're done here." He let both his arms fall to his sides and planted a fist on his hip, his expression tired. "Let me rephrase the question. Why did you sneak into our camp?"

I shrugged. "It looked like everyone was asleep when I got here, and I didn't want to bother you all. But… the food smelled good, and the fire was warm."

No one said anything for a moment while my interrogators exchanged glances. More time for me to wonder what they might have in store for me. Woo-hoo.

Finally, Jeralt focused on me again and continued with the questioning. "You've been lost four days, you said? How did that happen?"

_Aaaaaand here we go._ I felt a bit dizzy, like what I was about to say was giving me vertigo. "Honestly, I have… _no_ idea what happened, and it's gonna sound completely nuts. Heck, _I_ might be nuts. But I'm not from around here. I was in my room asleep, heard something outside my door, opened it, and I was just… _here_, in Fó- in the forest."

Yeah, admitting I had an idea of where I was, wasn't going to jive with my story without revealing the existence of _Three Houses_. I'd very nearly slipped up there.

"You blacked out and came to in the forest?" Jeralt prodded.

I shook my head. "I didn't black out. I opened the door of my room, and then my room was gone and I was in the middle of nowhere."

"Suppose we take you at your word," Byron interjected, moving around toward Jeralt and Byleth. "Which I, for one, do not. Who's to say you _didn't_ have a period of unconsciousness, or simply forgot what happened?"

I took a steadying breath before answering. "... That wouldn't explain everything. The place I'm from is, ah, _different_ from this one. You see, um..."

Would anything I'd brought with me be enough to prove what I was saying? There were my clothes, my ocarina, and my tools… Well, that was a start.

"Check this out- my weapon here," I said, glancing around for my naginata. "I left it right-"

Except it wasn't there. I promptly forgot myself and shot up to my feet and whirled around, looking every which way for my weapon. There was nothing on the ground near me except the fire pit and the mercs' boots. My naginata was gone. Had someone-?!

Byleth interrupted my frantic search: "We found your weapon already."

I froze for a moment before turning back around to face them. "Ah… of course you did. Okay, cool." _Jeesh, I'm freaking out… Gotta chill out._ I took a breath. "Can you, like… bring it over her so I can show it to you?"

"Jeralt will decide if and when you can have it back," Byron retorted. "Until then, we'll be holding onto it."

Okay, that didn't bode well, even if it made sense. "Fair enough," I said tentatively. "Well, anyway, you probably noticed the shaft. Unless I'm wildly mistaken, it's made of a substance you've never seen before. Is that right?"

Jeralt gave a nod. "You're not wrong. Our weaponmaster says it's some kind of metal, the blacksmith thinks it's wood, and one or two of the men say it's a long-lost holy weapon or something." He punctuated that last remark with a flip of his hand, and he even wrinkled his nose slightly.

"It's actually made of fiberglass," I explained. "Honestly, I have no idea how it's made, except that involves glass fibers, and it's completely synthetic."

Byron visibly bristled. "Our tools can't so much as make a dent in the shaft, and you mean to tell me something that durable is made from _glass?_"

"It's really common where I'm from!" I insisted.

_… Wait._

"Tools?" I echoed. "What have you been doing to my stuff? How long did you watch me sleep?!"

"We found you over an hour ago," Byleth answered. "You slept through it all. We thought you might even be unconscious. What of your other belongings?" she asked, gesturing down at my torso. "The knife and the pouch in your pockets?"

Ah, right. Well, at least they hadn't pickpocketed me in my sleep. "This is just a regular old hunting knife," I said as I pulled the tool from my pocket. I held it out toward them, sheath and all; Byron promptly snatched it and started examining it. "And this," I continued, producing the pouch and pulling out the instrument inside, "is an ocarina, a kind of flute." Byleth's head tilted a little as she looked at it, whereas Byron went back to inspecting my knife as soon as he heard the word "flute." I played a couple of notes on it anyway, just to demonstrate.

"There's also the fact that where I'm from, it's been _centuries _since anyone dressed the way you all do," I added. "Er- well, except for hobbyists and entertainers, anyway."

Jeralt folded his arms again, and he seemed to stare off into the distance. "In any case, that's a strange story you've told us. It does answer some questions, but it also creates a lot more."

"You don't actually believe all this, do you?" Byron asked him skeptically, sheathing my knife.

"I don't think I've decided yet," Jeralt answered.

"If what you've said is true," Byleth prodded, "what do you plan to do now?"

_… Huh. Well, um… Hm_. I shrugged helplessly and put my ocarina away. "I have no idea. Until now, it's just been about getting through the day. I mean, you all still haven't even told me where _here_ is."

So the question I asked myself that first morning in the forest had come back with a vengeance. I was in the setting of a Fire Emblem game. My familiarity with this franchise consisted of _Fates_ and the _Super Smash Bros._ series, plus a couple of fan fiction stories like _Earthborne_ and _Birth and Re-Death_. Whatever the actual plot, that was enough for me to have an idea of what I was up against. This was a medieval fantasy setting: a land of swords and magic, of horses and dragons, and of war. Full-scale cold, ruthless, bloodthirsty war. I had a sneaking suspicion that there wouldn't be any Phoenix mode, grid-based movement, or taking turns in this version, either. I, on the other hand, was a business student and an all-around geek who'd never been in a real fight before.

What was I supposed to do _now?_

"This land is called Fódlan," Byleth supplied. "Does that help?"

I shook my head. "There's no place called Fódlan where I'm from," I answered truthfully.

Jeralt looked down at me again. I hadn't noticed before since I'd been on the ground, but the difference in height between us was actually a lot less than I'd have expected. Still, he was definitely more built than I ever was, and he was giving me a hardened look.

"Let me make one thing clear," he began. "I don't like thieves."

_Wait, THIEVES? But I'm not- I just- it was half a bowl of soup! Gimme a break here!_

"But," the mercenary continued, "stealing food is a lot more forgivable than if you'd taken someone's belongings while they slept. No one's reported anything of theirs missing, and everyone is still in one piece. I'm inclined to think you really were just cold and hungry."

Well, that _was_ true… Did it mean I was off the hook, though?

Jeralt unfolded his arms and returned his fist to his hip. "So here's what we'll do. Right now, we're on our way to meet up with some merchants and escort them to the village they're heading for. In exchange for us harboring you on the way there, you'll do chores for us. Do you know how to cook? Polish weapons? Mend clothes?"

I breathed a quiet sigh of relief. For one, that seemed to be letting me off fairly easy. Not that I'd expected the protagonist and their family to be overly harsh or cruel over half a bowl of soup, but you just never know, you know? Two, I couldn't exactly leave this group now that I'd found them. Where else would I go? Back to the waterfall, with the dwindling supply of berries, cold nights, and hungry wolves for neighbors? No, no, and _heck_ no. Until we reached some town or city, these guys were my best chance of survival.

Three, thinking about it, sticking close to the protagonist was probably the best thing I could do for now. It's true that the heroes always seem to attract trouble. But like I said, Fire Emblem games are games of war, and war doesn't always care if you're a bystander or not. If I decided to settle down somewhere to wait out the coming storm, the war might and probably would come and wipe me out "off-screen." Sure, Byleth and her allies might turn up to save the day, but wouldn't it be better to follow behind the cavalry than to be the one waiting for them to save your butt?

It wasn't what I would call a plan, but hopefully it would keep me alive long enough to come up with a real plan. For now, I would stick close to Byleth.

I gave Jeralt a firm nod. "I'm ready and willing to learn."

Byron actually balked at me. "To _learn?_ You mean you don't know how-?" The older man rounded on Jeralt. "He's a thief _and_ a freeloader!"

"Hey!"

I clamped my mouth shut, but it was too late. All three sets of eyes were firmly on me again, and they didn't look too pleased with my tone. Several of the other mercenaries nearby even stopped to watch. I couldn't help it, okay? Byron tweaked me.

Still, I needed to rein it in. If there's a right time to trade barbs with someone, it's not during your first meeting. Especially if you need something from them.

I exhaled steadily, and the flare of anger in me winked out. "First of all," I said evenly as I held up one finger, "half a bowl. That's literally all. Not even a full one. Second, I'm not a freeloader, I'm an _investment_. I can't do much to help you all today, but if you teach me, then tomorrow I can do jobs around here that no one else wants to." An idea came to me, and I ran with it. "It'll be like adopting a kid! You get young blood to help with the grunt work without going through the trouble of raising me!"

_That_ raised some eyebrows. Though for a solid one or two seconds, no other reaction. Not so much as an eye roll at my joke.

My face started heating up under their stares.

And then Jeralt smirked and shook his head. "You hear that, kid?" he asked his daughter. "I'm not the only parent who assigns chores."

"Or maybe you brought him here specifically to say that," Byleth deadpanned.

I had to stifle a laugh. Okay, so my original joke hadn't been all that funny, but _that_ was.

Jeralt gave a noncommittal shrug and looked back at me. "All right. As long as you're willing to make yourself useful, and you're keeping out of trouble, we'll let you come with us and teach you what you need to do. Do we have a deal?"

I nodded and reached my hand out toward him. "Yes sir, we do!"

Jeralt gave a nod and turned aside to Byleth. "I'm going to see if we can scrounge up some actual clothes for him. You keep an eye on him for now. That's all for now, Byron," he added. With that, he walked off through the still-bustling camp.

Scrounge up some clothes, huh? I could get behind that, even if it meant Jeralt was leaving me hanging.

I kept my hand where it was and turned to Byron as he started walking away. "Sooooo, can we chalk this meeting up to getting off on the wrong foot?" I asked hopefully, making him pause. "Byron, was it?"

The old man looked down at my hand for a moment before looking me in the face again. An air of resignation had replaced his open hostility. "... How was the soup?"

I blinked. "The soup?" _Weird thing to ask about, but…_ "It was getting cold by the time I got to it, but it still tasted really good."

"Well, Ana will be happy to hear that, at least," Byron muttered, and he went on his way.

_Wait. Did he just say Anna? As in-_

I quickly scanned the people milling about. There were some funky hair colors compared to what I was used to, but none of them were that telltale, in-your-face bright red I was looking for.

_Eh, probably not, I guess._ I looked down at my still-extended hand. Strike two. One try left.

"Anyway," I started, looking to Byleth, "y-"

Oh. That stare was actually a little unnerving now that we were more or less alone.

"... Yes?"

… Ah, right, talking. I shook it off, smiled, and reached my hand out a little further. "You're, uh... I don't think I got your name yet."

Her response was just as monotone as before. "My name is Byleth."

"Well, nice to meet you, Byleth."

"Nice to meet you, too."

And then she just kept staring at me.

Slowly, my arm fell back down to my side. "Uh, cool."

Strikeout.

* * *

**A/N:**

**Hello, hello, and hello! It's been a while! I apologize for that. For one, I had to get far enough into Three Houses to get an idea of what direction to take with this story. Two, this past month has been tumultuous. At the time I released the last chapter, I was still living with my parents and stuck in a dead end job. Now, I'm a first time homeowner, and I've been formally offered a job that I can make a career out of, _can I get a Hallelujah in here?!_**

**Don't worry, I'll take out the life update when the next chapter is ready lol**

**Anyway, that's the chapter! I think this is the part where I should say _Fire Emblem: Three Houses _doesn't belong to me, yada yada yada, never have to do that again, okay! I hope you're enjoying the story so far. As a fanfiction author, I'm basically obligated to tell you that any and all feedback is much appreciated! And if you like what you see so far, might as well give it a follow while you're here. I don't expect chapter 3 will take another two months, but there's still a lot to be done before I can get a new routine going, so it might be a bit.**

**Thanks to mixedvalence for giving this chapter a read before posting! If you somehow haven't read Earthborne yet, you should go check it out when you're done here!**

**That's all for now. 'Til next time!**


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